The Sentence He First Declared

Cyprian to Caldonius and Herculanus, my colleagues, and to Rogatianus and Numidicus, my fellow elders: greetings. [a]

Dearest brothers, your letter grieved me deeply. I have always set myself to keep the whole of our brotherhood safe and the flock unharmed, as love requires — and now you tell me that Felicissimus has been attempting a great deal, and attempting it with wickedness and cunning. On top of the old frauds and robberies of his, which I had known a good deal about already, he has now even tried to break a section of the people away from their overseer: that is, to separate the sheep from the shepherd, and sons from their parents, and to scatter the members of Christ.

I had sent you as my deputies to meet our brothers’ needs with money; and further, if any of them wanted to work at their own trades, to help them do it with whatever additional sum would be enough; and at the same time to take note of their ages, their circumstances and what each one deserved — so that I too, whose business it is to know every one of them thoroughly, might promote any who were worthy and humble and gentle to posts in the church’s service. He has interfered with all of it. He gave orders that no one was to be given help, and that the things I wanted established by careful inquiry were not to be looked into at all. He also threatened the brothers who had come forward first for help — using his power crookedly, and terrifying them with violence — that any who chose to obey me would not share communion with him in death.

After all this he was neither moved by the honor due my office nor checked by your authority and your presence there. On his own impulse he has burst out, disturbing the brothers’ peace, and has taken a good many others with him, setting himself up as head of a faction and ringleader of a revolt in a fit of headlong madness. On that point I do congratulate a number of the brothers, who have drawn back from this recklessness and have chosen instead to side with you, so that they may stay with the church, their mother, and receive their share from the overseer who distributes it. I know for certain that others will peaceably do the same, and will soon abandon their rash mistake.

In the meantime, since Felicissimus has threatened that those who obeyed us — that is, who shared our communion — should not share communion with him in death, let him receive the sentence he was the first of all to pronounce. Let him know that he is cut off from us. For to his frauds and robberies, which we know of by the plainest evidence, he adds the crime of adultery as well: our brothers, serious men, state that they have uncovered it and firmly declare that they will prove it. All of this we will examine judicially when, if the Lord allows it, we gather in one place with a good many of our colleagues.

As for Augendus, who has taken no account of his overseer or of his church and has joined himself to the man in this conspiracy and faction: if he goes on standing with him, let him bear the sentence that factious, headstrong man has brought down on himself. And whoever allies himself with that conspiracy and faction should know that he will not share communion with us in the church, since of his own accord he has chosen to be separated from the church.

Read this letter of mine to our brothers, and send it on to Carthage, to the clergy, adding the names of those who have joined themselves to Felicissimus. I hope you are always well, dearly loved brothers, and I ask you to remember me. Farewell.